In my mailbox this week:
Kick-ass
Release Year: 2010
Staring: Aaron Johnson, Chloe Moretz, Nicolas Cage.
Someplace earlier this year, Kick-ass was released to a small hopeful audience, a larger unsure audience, and a cry of foul. If you were familiar with the comic series under the same name, you knew what to expect. Violence, gore, profanity, and a small dash of humor. The comic series was gripping, but was definitely deserving of its Mature rating. How does the Kick-Ass movie compare to the original story material? It doesn’t. It’s an adaptation, and nothing more.
The comic book costume, a re-purposed scuba suit
The comic book series, written by Mark Millar and illustrated by John Romita Jr., follows teenager Dave Lizewski,as he attempts to realize his dream of becoming a comic-book type super-hero. Along the way, he is broken, beat down, and almost destroyed. But what he fails to accomplish himself, he inspires others to try to do also.
But right there, that is about as far as the movie and the comic book are similar. Oh, sure, you can definitely tell that the movie is based on the comic book, but many of the ‘important’ specifics from the story are lost in the translation. I could spend a day ripping it to shreds, but I am not going to. Why? Cause I liked the movie.
Let me start off by discussing something that I found very irritating about the release of this film; specifically the Trailers. I knew the subject matter, I knew the story, and I had read the comics before hand. I knew it was violent, and messy. But the trailers did NOTHING to get this point across. The trailers made it seem more like a comedy than anything else. And that, I think, was a disservice to the movie.
To put that point in context; a group of friends and I watched this movie together. Before we watched it, we watched the Trailer. The consensus was ‘this looks like fun.” So we started to watch the feature. The first moment, the narration is set into telling a little background, about how there are no real super-heroes. You see a lone man standing atop a building, who spreads the wings of his costume, and jumps.
Someone in our group said, out loud, “Sweet!”. And then the jumper smashed into the car on the street below.
The movie costume has a mouth-hole, for words to come out
To which, I heard, “What The F&(K!!” [edited for our child readers.] What they saw was not what they expected. The movie continued like this all the way to the end.
Once we had finished, I asked collectively what people thought. The consensus was that it was a great movie! But nothing like I was expecting. That right there is why I say the trailers hindered its release in theaters. The fewer-than-should-have-seen-it, audience might have been swayed by the vary thing I am talking about. One’s who saw it, saying it was nothing like the trailers.
So, I will tell you the truth. The movie is awesome. It’s a great over-the-top action film. It has a good story, but it is really violent. The violence in places is definitely over the top, but don’t let that distract you from the film. It rolls well, keeps moving right to the two-hour mark. Stock up on beverages, because there won’t be too many moments to get up and refill.
The movie wasn’t without its problems. The young actress playing hit-girl was good, but not fantastic. It seemed too much like she was acting a part, and not playing a role. She always seemed to be fighting against her costume. Like her mask would slip slightly, and so she would squint. Her hair was in her eyes, so she would squint. She was saying something, so she would squint.
And then you have Nick Cage. Can’t really fault him for taking the part, but he seemed like he just re-incarnated a cross between his roles of Herbert McDunnough (Raising Arizona), and Cameron Poe (Con-Air). He was trying to be some sort of a hick cop, or something. Basically, he just irritated me.
But still, you should watch the movie. It is a good movie, and really is a lot of fun. Make it past the violence, and just enjoy the outlandishness. And, if you do enjoy the movie, be sure to read the comic book. I thought it was better. ;-)
How much alcohol did it take: Couple beers. Nothing intense.
Rating: 7/10. I would love to rate this higher, but some things just didn’t feel right. I wanted hit-girl to be better, and instead it seemed like she was just ‘playing,’ always sneering with her hair in her mouth.
The Wife’s Retort: This is one of the few times that I found myself laughing at mass murder. Ignoring of course, that the crazy slasher chick is like 9, I loved it. Especially Nick Cage!
